The House of Spice — Restaurant in Shanklin

Shame in the name of Indian food.

We recently dined at House of Spice, Shanklin and the overall experience was less than poor. The location ,menu and staff are good, but overall food experience was horribly wrong. We ordered Lamb Tikka and Tandoori King Prawns in starters, Lamb Achari, Chicken Korma and Naans to start with. Both the starters were quite small in terms of portion size (3 prawns and 4 small lamb pieces buried under a small heap of sliced onions and lettuce). Lamb itself was medium rare and chewy. I had to bring that to the notice of serving staff so that I get well cooked Lamb Achari in mains. However both Lamb Achari and Chicken Korma were disastrous. Lamb dish strangely had big pieces of raw mango pickle (whilst it should just have hint of it), it felt like one is eating mango pickle with lamb in it. Chicken Korma was so sweet that it felt like desert. Both of these dishes were ordered on recommendation of restaurant staff but none of them were up to the mark. We ordered lightly spiced Chicken Korma so that my 8 year old daughter can enjoy it, but she didn’t touched it after first her first bite. We didn’t feel ordering anything after that though we wished too. The most disappointing thing was attitude of restaurant manager. When we tried to provide our feedback about sweet Korma he seemed irritated and kept telling us this is how we make our Korma dishes. This tells me that this restaurant doesn’t like any criticism from customers.

I would assess the food quality as 2, value at normal prices 2.5, but management and overall service as a negative. Their hygiene rating is only 2 out of 5,. I would give 2 as overall rating to...

House of Spice Shanklin, I was not impressed at all. Place is little dingy probably last updated 20 years ago. Guy I think the owner was in shorts and T shirt. Does not give a good impression, tables could do with a good clean. Floor was a little sticky Service was little slow even though the place was not full. We had 4 Papdoms, did not ask for condiments but we were served with Mango Chutney, chopped onions and yougart with some mint. Mains: Chicken Jailfrezi, Brinjal vegetable, 3 plain Nan, butter Chicken and plain boiled rice. To Drink: 2 -J2O and one Fenta. No Sweets. Hand written bill that has been overwritten on several places to £ 73.00 I was trying to work in my head as it seems excessive but the chap stood with a machine asking us to pay. We payed but they will not allow us to take hand written bill. It does not require a calculator to add bill. They overcharged by over £10. Back in my hotel I mentioned that to the hotel owner and one of the guests. They had similar experience. Q- why curry restaurants write bill by hand and do not let customer have that copy? Q- Why suddenly they started charging for condiments? If they are going to charge they should make it clear to customer. I would have had only one dish-Mango Chutney. Others were not worth it. Food was average to reasonable 6/10. But the above meant we would avoid going there again. And drive few miles to another place. Nans were good. Jailfrezi reasonable. Brinjal below average, Butter chicken was what we wanted for kids....

This place was absolutely disgusting. I went there with my family, the glasses were appalling. They brought different ones each time? They had tiny cans of coke and poured into one glass claiming it was ‘2’ cans of coke. The foods taste had no taste. This was taste of air. I ate nothing wasted 50 pounds. What a waste. The service was appalling. They claim it’s halal and Indian but they have a bar?. The other people who were eating were giving dirty looks as we were the only coloured people. Overall I would give 0 if I could. This was absolutely disgusting. Service was appalling and so was the food. They put the mockery in Indians and claiming they it’s Indian but there are no true Indians? This is a mockery to Muslims as they claim their halal and sell alcohol? What is this. They say they have so much spice but there’s a disgusting taste of sweetness which made me want to smash a plate. If your brown and know taste of food. Don’t come here. Don’t even spend a single penny. The only thing good I found was the coke which after 5 minutes went bad. I’d rather drink water then the food. This place is disgusting. Overall my experience made me...